


The Box

by SpaceTimeConundrum



Category: due South
Genre: Digital Art, Grief/Mourning, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27621424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceTimeConundrum/pseuds/SpaceTimeConundrum
Summary: Grief has its own special kind of gravity.
Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, Diefenbaker & Benton Fraser & Ray Kowalski
Comments: 20
Kudos: 34
Collections: due South/C6D Big Bang 2020





	The Box

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Thank You, Farewell.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26448652) by [comatosebadger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/comatosebadger/pseuds/comatosebadger). 



The package from the veterinary clinic sat atop the pile of mail by the door for a week before either of them could bring themselves to open it.

It wasn’t very large, wrapped in plain, innocuous-looking butcher paper, and it was heavier than it looked, though not nearly as heavy as it _seemed_ , if that made any sense. (It did in Ray's head.) It was like all of the gravity in the cabin had shifted, and he and Ben were stuck orbiting around the thing like lonely planets, trying to go about the ordinary business of their lives like there wasn’t suddenly an enormous hole in space where there wasn’t one before.

Eventually, Ray realized Ben wasn’t going to do anything about it without a push, so he summoned his courage and did what needed doing, and when he was finished, set the wooden box carefully on the kitchen table.

Ben watched him from his chair by the fireplace, not even pretending to read the book laying open in his lap, but didn’t say anything.

Neither of them looked over at the box while they ate dinner that evening.

-

Ray dreamed of black holes and long ribbons of colored light, like the aurora maybe, swirling together into indistinct shapes and unravelling again before he could tell what they were.

-

Ben’s side of the bed was empty when Ray woke up the next morning, which was only remarkable because he wasn’t scheduled to work that day and his pillow was cool enough that he must’ve gotten up even earlier than usual. If he’d been called away for an emergency, he would’ve woken Ray to tell him before he left, and he hadn't.

Peering out into the main room of the cabin muzzily, he found Ben sitting at the table, studiously contemplating a mug of tea, dressed in full red serge.

 _Okay._ They were doing this then. Ray went back into the bedroom to get dressed.

Ben greeted him with his usual, “Good morning, Ray” when he reappeared in his nicest black jeans and a newish shirt, but didn’t offer up any further conversation while Ray fixed himself some oatmeal, heaping an extra spoonful of brown sugar into the mix to improve the flavor. 

Their unspoken stand-off lasted through breakfast. Ray ate mechanically, knowing that he’d regret the lost calories later if he didn’t, while Ben ignored his tea and abandoned even the pretense that he wasn’t simply waiting on Ray to be done.

“Alright,” Ray said, putting down his spoon and nodding toward the box. “What’s the plan?”

“I thought we might go for a walk,” Ben replied. 

“Okay. Let me get my coat.”

After zipping up his coat and pulling on his gloves, Ray turned to see Ben, Stetson in hand, staring at the box on the table.

“You ready?” he asked quietly.

Ben huffed out a sharp breath, straightened his shoulders, nodded, and picked up the box.

Gravity tilted again and followed him to the door, and Ray fell into step beside Ben, brushing shoulders as they stepped out into the frosty morning air, together.

**Author's Note:**

> Credit and thanks to **comatosebadger** , for her lovely and beautifully painful comic about loss / tribute to Dief that provided the inspiration for this piece, and for being equally lovely to work with on this Big Bang. 
> 
> Thank you kindly for reading!


End file.
